Dunfermline wrestler Jason Reed faces DCT in cage match on WWE Network

It was in the summer of 2016 when Craig Holding sat opposite me in a booth at Seven Kings to talk about his wrestling career and where it was going.

Back then, he was very much still a rookie in the business and the chat was angling towards his preparation for a W3L (World Wide Wrestling League) hometown show at the Carnegie Leisure Centre.

His journey since that night has had highs and lows, by his own admission, but this weekend, he will walk to the squared circle for the biggest match of his career to date.

As Jason Reed – a name chosen to pay homage to his father and grandfather – he will face rival DCT inside a steel cage match as part of ICW Fight Club: Barred, a pay-per-view event streaming live on the WWE Network (and Peacock TV in the US) to millions of wrestling fans around the world.

“If you had told me five years ago, in a pub in Dunfermline, that I’d be preparing for a cage match as part of an ICW pay-per-view that’s streaming on the WWE Network, I wouldn’t have believed you,” he told the Press.

“I’ve been working towards a moment like this. This match has a real personal touch given who I’m going up against but I’m buzzing at the prospect of delivering on the big stage.

“This weekend’s match against DCT is the biggest of my career, without a doubt.

“In terms of the level I’m at now, this is the highest I’ve been and there are many names that I’ve shared the ring with over the years to thank for that as they’ve all been a part of it.”

Reed, now 25, started out in W3L before making the move to Fife Pro Wrestling Asylum (FPWA) in 2019 to train under his best friend, Andy Wild, a respected name on the UK scene.

“I had a lot of good times with W3L and they gave me my break in wrestling,” Reed states.

“It was around 18 months ago that I felt it was the right time for me to move on and train under Andy. When you look at what’s happening right now, I can say that it’s been the correct decision.

“It was full steam ahead until the pandemic hit. It closed the school down for a large part of last year but I’ve still been able to learn over that time. It’s helped with the progression of my career to no end.

“I always thought I was passionate about wrestling when I started but I don’t think I was passionate enough.

“Looking at where I am now, I credit that to a lot of the hard work I’ve put in and the guys I’ve been around who have provided me with their knowledge and their experience.

“I have so much more drive now. I had this epiphany a couple of years ago and that’s when I realised I had to put more work in to get ahead of the other talent around me.

“At the end of the day, the only person stopping yourself from being where you want to be is yourself. I live by that now and I didn’t a few years ago.

“I used to rely on excuses to get me out of going to the gym at five in the morning or staying up late to research wrestling and continue learning. I’m in charge of my own destiny now.”

Prior to working with ICW (Insane Championship Wrestling), he was able to capture gold, a goal he had always aimed for.

He states: “I won the Tri-Counties Championship up in Aberdeen for a company called WrestleZone; I actually defended that in Discovery Wrestling at a show in Edinburgh.

“The only other time that a title has been defended outside of its own promotion was by Cody Rhodes when he defended the ROH (Ring of Honor) title. That was a very cool moment for me.”

Moments like that helped forge a path to working in ICW, a Glasgow-based promotion that has moulded some of the very best homegrown talent in recent years who have gone on to work with the WWE and its top brands.

The pressure is more intense and the need to deliver with the cameras on him has never been more important, but he’s savouring the position he finds himself in.

“ICW was somewhere that I always wanted to get into,” he says.

“Looking from afar, I knew they had a good working relationship with the WWE; the top dogs in this business.

“ICW shows already had great exposure but when you compare having a few hundred people on a Sunday night to being able to have the show streaming live on the WWE Network to millions and millions of people around the world, in 30-plus countries, it really is incredible.

“WWE is a massive company.

“There’s so many eyes on this product and that’s only good for guys like me.”

Earning plaudits on the independent scene is a sure-fire method of getting attention from larger companies looking for new talent coming through, but it can also be a platform for a rebirth.

Reed's compatriot, Drew McIntyre, was released by the WWE in 2014 and made his first post-WWE appearance at an ICW show - reverting back to his real surname of Galloway - and making a return to the promotion he first appeared in back in 2006.

He would go on to achieve success their and, perhaps most notably, with Impact Wrestling, before being re-signed by WWE in 2017, adopting the McIntyre handle once more.

His return would eventually lead to him becoming the face of the company, winning the 2020 Royal Rumble and then beating Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 36 and enjoying a successful 203-day run with the title; he would regain the title in November last year, becoming a two-time champion.

The 35-year-old's story is one that Reed can use as fuel, he says.

"Drew is such an inspiration.

"He had that setback of being let go by the WWE at a young age. He could have settled for that and made his money on the independent shows, but he decided that the WWE would sign him back, and they did.

"He went on to win the world title (WWE Championship) and it’s an amazing story - he deserves it."

Becoming a signed talent like McIntyre, whether it's in the WWE or elsewhere, is Reed's ambition and goal within the next five years as well as, "making my family, friends and partner, proud."

For now, it's all about impressing, improving and continuing to live out his boyhood dream.

“I’m very, very privileged to be able to do what I love just now,” Reed continues.

“We’re able to perform behind closed doors in a safe way and we can produce content for the WWE in that setting.

“I totally understand the position I find myself in and I don’t take it for granted. It’s hard for everyone to stay motivated right now due to the pandemic but I think it’s important that there is that light at the end of the tunnel that we can all look towards.

“We need to all support each other and we’ll see it through to the end.”

Watching wrestling has been a form of escapism for many in the past year, and Reed stressed that what ICW, WWE and other companies around the world are doing right now is helping people forget about the reality we all currently find ourselves in.

He said: “There’s always going to be that group or population of people who don’t believe wrestling is their cup of tea and that’s absolutely fine.

“At the end of the day, we’re an entertainment brand and our job is to entertain as many people as possible and to tell a story.

“If you don’t like that, we will not ask you to watch the product or become invested – that’s okay, we get that.

“We know what we do is mind-blowing.

“We can take those everyday thoughts and problems that we all have and sit you down for two to three hours and take you through a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

“That’s why wrestling is so special.”

• ICW Fight Club: Barred streams live on the WWE Network this Saturday night.